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Wednesday Evening, September 2Sfh, 1872. 



Fkllow-Citizens : 

The political problems before the country nre neither so nu- 
merous or complicated as not to be solved by every individual voter. 
Politicians and platform-makers are unable, -with their flimsy husks, to 
hide from the people the real grain which is at the bottom of every 
contest for political powor. The voter who blindly bows at the shrine of 
every Conventional platform, must be a very blind partisan or a very 
stupid patriot. Platforms and promises are exceedingly good things 
to stand upon during a Campaign, but are generally abandoned alter . 
the election. It, therefore, behooves every citizen to look beyond, and, 
I believe, the time has arrived when citizens loill look beyond the mere 
paper foundations of the parties that now seek to govern the country. 
"How are we to know what a party will do ?" is the anxious cry of 
many a doubting voter, who in his uncertainty is yet seeking to cast his 
ballot patriotically. I answer, in the language of Patrick Henry, that 
the experience of the past is the only lamp that can light our fojtsteps 
in the future. A stranger buys a l)ill of goods of your merchrint and 
offers in pay a check on a bank in New Orleans, the merchant does not 
receive that check without distrust like he would one from his well- 
known neighbor. Such is the position of the two parties before the 
country to-day. The great Republican party, while grappling with the 
momentous events of the present — while standing with full front to the 
still greater events of the coming future, is yet proud to cast a fond 
glance over every footstep it has trodden. From the moment that it 
first set its stern young face against slavery and attempted to draw lines 
of caustic around that growing cancer, to the hour that every man on 
this C(mtinent stood up a freeman and a citizen, every act and deed of 
this Republican party has made a page of glorious history. But its 
chief glory — and that which made its victories possible — is the swift 
and utter demolition of the pro-slavery sentiment which that institu- 
tion had been rearing for two generationa of men. If the Itejxihlioeaj 



t 



pftrty had never existed, free-si^eech in tlie United States wouM only be 
ill) ajst!"ict theory to-day. Through this party the theory of govern- 
ment prcclaiaied by our Fathers has ripened into a practical fact. If 
every man in thi^ country had been a freeman, the late war would have 
been an iinpossibitity. It v.-as the di;-turhance of the equilibrium of 
freedom, aided by a great and dominant party, that plunged us into 
" The red sea of secession and rebellion." And when the Avar suddenly 
burst upon the startled country the Republican party grasped it at once. 
There v.'as opposition even in the North, and prominent Republicans 
favored the disruption of the country as preferable to vrar. It was 
then that this party developed that inherent force of principle which 
has always bound its masses together in spite of the treason of its lead- 
ers. Vv'hile Horace Greeley, with his hand upon the valve of his great 
engine, the Tribune, w'as blowing loudly for secession and peace, the 
stahvart privates of the party were blowing the bugle and cleaning their 
muskets for war, because with a wisdom above their teacher they saw 
that secession was v/ar, and that the whole national government would 
be struck down. Principle has done for us what party discipline has 
done for our political enemies, and I believe, that if to-day, every 
prominent leaders of the pai ty were to desert us, they could not make us 
scuttle the ship or strike our colors. No wonder the unchanging aspect 
of this grand old party has ever hlled with admiration and astonishment 
the stable governments of the Old World, where parties are made and 
unmade by the breath of a Minister. Sumner, Banks, and Greeley, 
have left us, and we are stronger to-day without them. You are wel- 
come, Democrats, to the seltish strife they will ere long awake in your 
ranks. 

And we say to you, gentlemen, Democrats, that you can neither blot 
out, or counterfeit what history has written of Republican pririciples. 
You cannot stop the car of progress by the feeble brake of a Cincinnati 
Platform. You had as well, by the strength C)f your single hand, at- 
tempt to pull up the pyramids of Egypt. You may put on the old 
'white hat and coat, but the ears will yet stick out. Like Jefferson Da- 
vis when he was captured, you will find that your stolen garments was 
made to tit another, and will not hide your sins. 

But after the war, how did this party grasp and solve the greatest 
civil problem that ever confronted any people? Here, again, leaders 
feared that the remote good to the counti-y would not compensate them 
for the immediate loss of popularity, and thought about sacrificing every- 
thing to temporary expedients. But the masses of the party rose in 
their simple majesty and said no! in such thunder tones, that every fal- 
tering leader, excepting Andrew Johnson, heard and understood them. 
There was the South upon our hands destitute of civil government, 
destitute of the bread and meat of life, de.-titute of patriotism, and in 
fact, of everything but intense hatred to the Union, with four million? 
of liberated slaves in her borders. In the face of all this, and the un- 
explainable hate of the Northern Deinociats to this large class of peo- 
ple, the Republican party, from the hand of its wisdom, sent these sev- 
ei'al States once more spinning in their orbits, guided and controlled by 
the centripetal force of the General Government. In this new crea- 
tion it is not to be wondered that some hasty revolutions should have 
been performed — that some erratic movements would occur before these 
new State governments settled into their circles. But in all, the work 
yfHig. well done, and the«^ worlds we^nt whirling on jn tl>oir &}>hei>;\'j, uu- 



into their 



^ afiTected by the waDrlenng comets, Seymour and Blair, flung 

'j midst by the hands of the Democrp.tic party. 

And although the country had gone into the Avar vv-ith its credit 

c^stained by the crimes and follies of Buchanan's adniinistratit)n, it war, 
43omparatively free from debt. In four short' years it came out with 

■s^a greater national debt than the nations of the Old World, who were 
fighting battles and straining their credit before Columbus discovered 
America. The appalling magnitude of this burden made it questiona- 
ble after all, if our victory had not cost more than its real worth in 
dollars and cents alone. lis shadow darkened every door ; its footprints 
were upon every deed and contract made between man and man, and 
the fearful picture drawn by Democratic politicians, that the national 
tax; vvas alike upon the cradle and the coffin, was almost true. Every 
material interest of the country had been damaged by the war. The 
rich fields of tiie West and the spindles of the East had suifered alike. 
Three hundred thousand brave hands that had tilled tho^e fields and 
turned those spindles, lay ppJsied on the recent field of conflict. Rebel 
cruisers had swept our sails from the ocean, and an army of half a mil- 
lion of men was disbanded in idleness. 

But, as upon every other trying occasion, the Republican party rose 
like a giant in its strength, in the very iace of apparent and predicted 
])ankruptcy and ruin. So faithful were the collection and application 
of the revenue that while General Grant was day atler day paring 
down the great debt. Congress was day alter day lifting the taxes from 
the shoulders of the people, until now the national tax-gatherer has al- 
njost vanished from the laud. Three hundred millions of that great 
debt have been paid, and the balance has been put in that situation in 
which Mr. Lincoln said slavery ought to be, "that the public mind 
shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction." 
So wisely and, so well has this work been done, that the Democratic party 
has abandoned every financial theory it ever had en the subject, and 
pinned its faith to the vagaries of Horace Greelc}'. 

Now, on the other hand, what is to supplant this great Republican 
party? I hardly know what to call it. The poet says, "a rose by 
any other name would smell as sweet." I think we might say, the 
Democratic party by any other uame would smell as bad. Whatever 
mav be said to ensnare Republicans, it is the same old Democratic party, 
and jMr. Greeley is but its candidate. Every honest reader of the Tri- 
bune knows, who has not been carried away by its slanders, that fully a 
year ago Mr. Greeley had intended to be nominated by some party. If 
ire could secure the regular Republican nomination, very good, if not, 
then what? Why he was willing to take the nomination even at the 
hands of the Democrats. He did not at first, even dream of being 
nominated by the Liberals. His well known protection theories, dia- 
metrically opposed to the free-trade notions of these self-constituted re- 
formers, entirely excluded the idea of his becoming their candidate. 
Hence his continual derision of Gratz Brown, David A. Wells, and the 
leaders of this movement. Hence he said in his Tribune, so late as 
March 15th, 1871 : 

"But a new Congress has just convened, in which the Democratic 
" minority has been swelled from sixty to nearly one hundred members, 
" with several more to be elected. !N'ine-tenths of these may be safely 
" counted on to vote for any and every bill that reduces taxation, no 
" matter though they were sure thereby to force the treasury iiito repu- 



" diation forth^?ith. i^ay, we firmly believe that most of them would 
" vote the more eagerly for a bill, if confident that its effect would be 
" a proclamation of national bankruptcy. They would hail that result 
" as if it were another Bull Run or Fredericksburg. 

^' Such is the creiv with which quite a number of Republicans con- 
" sort and co-operate under the banner of ' Revenue Reform.'" 

Soon after these utterances it became clear that General Grant would 
be the nominee of the Republican party for Presiderit. Hence Mr. 
Greeley's persistent advice to the Democratic party to disband — aban- 
don the old issues, if they desii-ed to win, and take up a new man and 
a nev*' platform. Why was he interested in the success of the Demo- 
cratic party? He knew there was little danger of its regaining power 
on the old issues. Why continually advise it how to beat the Repub- 
lican party ? W^hy tell it from day to day that it might possibly have 
elected Chase and Hancock in 1868 ? Because he saw there was a 
chance to be its candidate. When he saw that General Grant was the 
choice of the people, and that the politicians dare not throw him over- 
board, he refused to sign the call for the Philadelphia Convention. 

The Cincinnati Convention was approaching. The Liberal move- 
ment was larger than Mr. Greeley had expected. Originally, the so- 
called Liberals had not thought of nominating a candidate — much less 
of forming a coalition with the Democrats. At first, their ultimate pur- 
pose \vas to develop sufficient opposition to prevent there-nomination of 
Gen. Grant. Bat latterly, the re-nomination of the President bc>ca;oe 
so apparent, that it was also certain that Cincinnati, too, would put its 
candidate in the field. But Mr. Greeley, looking to his final union with 
the Democracy, was fearful that the Liberals might not nominate a 
ticket, and the result be a final union with the Grant Republicans, 
signed the call for the Cincinnati Convention in order to be ready, liiso 
Micawber, for "something to turnup." But this Convention would 
probably make a Free Trade Platform, put Mr. Adams upon it, and 
thus utterly preclude 'the idea of a Democratic victory, even with Mr. 
Greeley at its head. This Convention must be captured or gotten out 
of the way. The Tribune at once set to work to dictate a platform for 
the coming Convention. But in order to frighten the Democrats, and 
put buck their National Convention till after Cincinnati, he told them 
the influence of the Tribune should go with the strongest Republican 
ticket, if the Democrats dared to put a man in the field. If a nomina- 
tion must be made at Cincinnati, it must be Mr. Greeley, or his chances 
would be ruined at Baltimore. 

The Convention came off. Frank Blair, that ominous night-bird, was 
perching near. A packed New York delegation for Rlr. Greeley was 
compelled to disclose the prospective consummation of the bargain be- 
tween JMr. Greeley and the Democrats at Baltimore, and thus j^revent 
the nomination of Mr. Adams. In a twinkling all was changed. Gratz 
Brown, apparently without motive, threw away his chances for the Lilte- 
ral nomination for the first place on the ticket, and asked the Conven- 
tion to nominate Mr. Greeley, a hitherto unheard of candidate. His 
conduct was explained when shortly afterwards he himself was pinned 
on to Greeley's old white coat-tail. 

The prominent Democratic leaders in every State were let into the 
secret of the future coalition of ilr. Greeley and their party. The 
Denocratic State Central Committee of Indiana met in the city of 
ludiannpylis as early as the 22d of February, more than two months 



before the Cincinnati Convention. They agreed not to call a State Con- 
vention till after the meeting at Cincinnati. And this action was taken, 
as I was at the time infornied by Democrats high in the party, for the 
express purpose of awaiting the action of that Convention. 

Where Democratic State Conventions were held prior to the First of 
May, they dared not lift their heads and instruct tor any of their old 
leaders, or put forth an old-timed platform. And where such State Con- 
ventions were held after Mr. Greeley's first nomination, they almost 
universally instructed for Horace Greeley. And all this was done with- 
out the voice of the people. I say distinctly, without the voice of the 
Democratic people. Scarcely a county organization in the whole coun- 
try asked for Mr. Greeley, even as a matter of policy. All this time 
th.8 Democratic masses were deriding the idea of the Democratic party 
indorsing Horace Greeiey, and rejoicing at the supposed split in the Re- 
publican party. And if there were no bargain and sale, was there; ever 
a time when the Democrats had so much real reason for such rejoicing ? 
Was there ever a time when the Democratic party had such an ap- 
parent chance to succeed if the Liberal movement was not a fraud and 
a sham, and its candidates were to be kept in the field at all hazards. 
The masses saw this and were eager for the old fight on the old issues. 
And as an evidence of the utter absurdity of calling this a movement 
of the people, the most reckless and truthless demagogue in the Demo- 
cratic party will not dare to stand up and say that Horace Greeley was 
the choice of one man in every hundred in that party. But the leaders 
too v^ell knew that if they refused to carry out their bargain to endorse 
Mr. Greeley at Baltimore, that he would be at liberty to break his part 
of the contract and turn tlie Liberal movement over to Gen. Grant. 
And hence, like the compact between two knaves, Avho know too well 
each other's secrets, through risk of failure — fear of exposure and a 
thorough mistrust of the ability of either party to go it alone — the 
frightful and monstrous coalition was completed in the very face of and 
despite the united protestations of the outraged Democratic party of 
the country, and those sincere men who originated the Cincinnati move- 
ment in the interests of reform. Wei!, the coalition was formed — the 
most infamous since the days of Pitt and Walpole. These leaders went 
to Baltimore, and to conciliate the country, which for twelve yem's had 
regarded their party as an organized conspiracy against liberty, they 
hurried with indecent haste, and pretended to bury this Democratic 
party. And though they put it in a coffin and had a funeral, it is not 
a dead but a sleeping corpse — waiting for the election of Horace Gree- 
ley, who will tear otl' the dead-dress of a Cincinnati Platform, and bid 
it come forth. Like the Priest in the Novel, it is expecting by the 
pomp and solemnity of a hearse and plumes, to smuggle a living spy 
into the Castle. But it must be remembered during all this time, that 
the Democratic party — in the face of it^ professed conversion to Piepubli- 
can principles, has preserved its organization intact. Its State, county, 
and township organization is as perfect — as under the staggering weight 
of its Greeley head — party drill can make it. Almost universally the 
local candidates are Democrats, most of them formerly elected or de- 
featsed on its old platforms. (Mr. Hendricks, for instance, who has been 
running for Governor ever since 1860.) Then if this party itself recog- 
nized the momentous fact that the country saw danger in its success, as 
the Democratic Part}^ — and was constrained by the very patriotism of 
the people to simulate reform and change it-:, professiinis — constrained l)y 



the inexorable logic of accompli.-^hed facts to adopt a quasi Republican 
platform — to cast this sleep-givin:.r mors^el to the jealous Cerberus at the 
Gates of Freedom — is it not time the country was aroused to a sense of 
the imminent danger that would attend the triumph of this party by 
whatever name you call it, " with," in the language of its present can- 
didate, "the hate, the chagrin, the wrath, the mortitication of ten bit- 
" ter years to impel and guide its steps?" 

The country h not prepared to let this party gain by strategy what 
it lost in open fight. When the batHetl Greeks had despaired ot knock- 
ing down the walls of Troy, they took advantage of an ancient super- 
stition of their enemies, and prepared a wooden horse as a peace offer- 
ing to the (xoiMess Minerva. It was too large to enter the gate, and 
the unsuspecting Trojans hastened to level a portion of their walls to 
receive it. But no sooner in, than its armed soldiers rushed out, and 
soon Troy was in flames. But the Republican party has seen too much 
treachery to be deceived by a stratagem like this. And we say to our 
political enemies that no treacherous Binon of the old Democratic 
party — by calling it the last good gift to the jMinerva of Liberty, can 
introduce his Greeley horse of evil, over the glittering Gates and Walls 
of Freedom, behind which stand intrenched the ho.-ts of the Republi- 
can party. For as I said before, it is the same old wolf in sheep's cloth- 
ing. The same old serpent, more dangerous than ever, because it has 
dropped its warning rattles, but retains its venomous fangs. Who be- 
lieves that the Democratic party as a whole has changed an iota in its 
adhesion to old wi'ongs? iSo many men cannot, at once, invert the 
prejudices of a lifetime. If the Ex-Emperor Napoleon should tell the 
French people that he had suddenly become a Republican, and ask them 
to elect him as a life President of France, they would not and could 
not believe and trust him, for the very reason that he could not turn his 
hack upon the pad. Do not fear that I am going to detail to you the 
history of this party. In very mercy I will spare it that. It is suffi- 
cient to say that it made war to the knife on every noble deed accom- 
plished by the Republican party. When our party tried to put a stop 
to the spread of slavery it said " no," and tried to drive us from the 
field by a political nickname. Every lip that ever cursed a negro was 
laden with oaths for this " Black Republican" party. It spread slavery 
into our virgin territories — it debauched the public conscience — it tore 
down the Missouri Compromise, and ultimately brought on the great 
civil war, and caused the debt to be "made. And even after the Avar was 
progressing, and many Democrats were in the army, as an organization 
its lieart beat in unison with the rebel pulse at Richmond. And when 
the daylight of our struggle seemed furthest off, the caves and caverns 
of the Southern part of our own >State of Indiana were filled with its 
members drinking midnight toasts to treason. And when the war was 
over, what was the conduct of the Democratic party ? Had it been 
guided by patriotism and statesmanship, and not have kept alive in the 
bosom of tlie South, the hope of its returning to its deserted place in 
the councils of the nation, without according to the black man in its 
midst the naked privilege of citizenship, the Union would have been 
rL'Constructed in a fortnight. Peace was so welcome to the people, that 
the Republican party, which was then the controling element in the 
country was anxious — nay probably too anxious, to reconstruct the South 
on a conservative model. And had it not been for this Democratic 
p.irty, and Sumner, Schuiv., and Trumbull, those extreme Republican.^ 



from whose feet the Democratic leaders are to-day licking the dust, the 
vSoutheru States would have glided back into the Union, while the blood 
was yet tricklfeg from the speared side of the nation. As the fearful 
echo of the teachings of the Democratic party came the Kuklux, an or- 
ganization compared with which the red record of the old Yehmic Court 
itself is spotless. And the lawless spirit of this Klan, both encouraged 
and denied by the Democracy South and North, was the cause and not_ 
tlie result of all the admitted misrule in the South. If the South thinks 
that she has been harshly treated by the parent Government, she must 
romember that she has been a very undutiful daughter. 

Now, fellow Democrats, I have raked as lightly in the ashes as I could. 
I know it horrors your souls to rake in the ashes. I know you are afraid 
to look over your shoulders at the past lest you see the ghosts of your 
multitudinous sins. You say the Kepublicans are ghouls, always going 
back to the grsive to feed on the bodies of dead Democrats. AVelJ, we 
will stop that, for hereafter you Avill he so full of " crow" that the meal 
will be very nauseous. 

Well, then, turning over the past to history, what are the "living 
issues " about which you prate so much ? That living issue is Gen, 
Grant, and, if I am not mistaken, you have already learned that he is 
about the livcst issue that you ever had on your hands since the war. 
Whatever you may say, you have attempted to narrow down the issues 
to slandering the person and houseliold of the President. You started 
that issue in North Carolina, and the jury brought in a verdict against 
you ; you put yourselves upon the country on that issue in Oregon, Ver- 
]nout, and Maine, and a wrathful and insulted people hurled back the 
vile inshiuations into your teeth. And you will find, if you go on with 
that issue, that New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, will swallow the 
very standing ground from under your feet. Gentlemen, you have over- 
done the thing. You have burrowed the chagrin of Sumner, the dis- 
honesty of Fenton, the sordid malice of Schurz, the selfishness of Trum- 
bull, and the bitter tongue of Dana, and mix these with the hates and 
prejudices of the old Democracy in your Greeley pot, and want the peo- 
ple to take it as reform broth. It is much too thin. Your own people 
will not swallow such a monstrous mixture. And by repeating day 
after day these reckless falsehoods, you stand before the country in the 
very bad position of that class of men, you kno\v, who are not believed 
even when they tell the truth. 

But routed on one point you turn to another. You say General 
Grant is a tyrant. Where is his field of blood, his scaffolds, and his 
dungeons? Show me a law-abiding citizen, a hair of whose head has 
been touched. Show me where he has executed a law that has wrong- 
fully deprived a citizen of his rights or his liberty ? You answer the 
Kuklux Law. Yes, he has executed the Kuklux Law. A law which 
Horace Greeley got Congress to pass, and Avhat was that ? The State 
Courts would not do their duty — they were powerless in the hands of 
the very offenders they were trying to punish — juries were empaneled 
to acquit their very accomplices in the crime for which they were being 
tried. Now the Kuklux law gave the Federal Courts the power to step 
in and take these midnight assassins by the throat and say to them : 
"Now, see here, you atrocious scoundrels, you have murdered men long 
enough ; you have been killing men, women and children ; you have 
been robbing negroes and burning houses ; your own Courts will not 
oanvict you, and if you do nf)t stop choking your victims to death, we 



will choke the very breath out oi' you." And they did stop— -not be- 
cause they wanted to, but because they were afraid to go on. And 
these are specimen larks that are Avilling to condescend ans^ shake hand? 
with us across the " bloody cliasni !" ;'i 

But, then, this Democratic party says they want Civil Service Re- 
form. Now, that sounds honest, and of course Avill take with the peo- 
ple. Admitting its own incapacity to got rid of its sins, and do better 
in the future, it claims to have taken a handful of liepublicans, and 
means with this little leaven to leaven the whole loaf. And, then, the 
reform they most heartily want is to get possession of the whole loaf; 
and, I am inclined to believe, fellow-citizens, that leavened or un- 
leavened they would take the loaf if you would let them. 

V/hat do they mean by Civil Service Reform ? Wliy, of course, 
turn out all the Rept-iblicans in office and fill their places with Demo- 
crats. This was the way they Ijegau reform under General Jackson, 
and thev aided it along by letting Swartwout steal a million of dollars 
and letting him go scot free. They have always been reformers ever 
since when out of office, but when you elect them, they always fail to 
practice what they preach. 

Will any Democrat show me wherein Mr. Greeley or his platform, 
promises any better, or even as good a civil service as we ali^ady have ? 
Less than a month before he was nominated at Cincinnati, Mr. Gree- 
ley said in his Tribune, of April 3d, 1872, speaking of General Grant .' 

"It is true that he has made some very bad selections for office — ■ 
"some (not all) of these from the ranks of 'professional politicians,' 
" but he has also made some very good ones ; and we do not think he 
" has sinned in this respect beyond several of his predecessors. Tlio 
" system under which his appointments havo been made is a very bid 
" one ; he says tiiis as plainly as we do ; he favors a radical change and 
" so do we." 

Now, let us sec what kind of a radical change these two candidates 
favor. The country knows General Grant's views on this subject. 
Wihout the aid of Congress he has done all in the power of a presi- 
dent to do. An Advisory Board has been established, and ajypiicants 
for office are compelled to pass a- rigid examination before appointment. 
The Pi-esident is the lather of this movement, and in his message to 
Congress on the 1 6th of last April he said : 

" The utmost fidelity and diligence will be expected of all officers in 
"every branch of the public service. FoUtical assessments, as iliey are 
" called, have been Jorbiddeni luithin the various Departments. And 
"while the right of all persons in official position to take part in politics 
" is acknowledged, and the elective franchise recognized as a higli trust 
" to be discharged by all entitled to its exercise, whether in theemploy- 
"ment of Government or in private life, honesty and efficiency, not po- 
"litical activity, will determiaie the tenure of ofiice." 

Now, there is your President, at the very moment when he was a 
candidate for re-nomination, saying in an open message to Congress, 
that the mere adherence to party was not enough to keep a man in 
oflice — using the very language that would drive mere partisans from 
his support into the arms of some other candidate who would promise 
them something better. This, among many other earnest elforts to ef- 
fect this " radical change," is what General Grant as President did. 

Now let us see what Mr. Greely as a candidate proposes to do. Since 
his nomination he said in a speec.i : 



" In two or three instances I have been asked to say whether 1 
" would or would not, if elected, confiiie ray appointments to Republi- 
" cans. I answer these by pointing to that plank of the Cincinnati 
" Platform, wherein all who concur in the principles therein set forth 
"are cordially invited to participate in their establishment and vindi- 
'' cation. I never yet heard of a man who invited his neighbors to 
" help him raise a house, and proceeded to kick them out of it so soon 
" as the roof was fairly over his head. For my own part, I recognize 
" every honest man who approves and adheres to the Cincinnati Plat- 
" form as my political brother, and as such, lully entitled to my con- 
" fidence and friendly regard." 

There is your philosopher's reform for you ! And it is about as chi- 
merical a^ the philosopher's stone of old, which, when. found, was to turn 
everything it touched into gold. General Grant says to be honest and 
efficient is the claim a man lias to office. Mr. Greeley says to help him 
raise his house, or in other words to vote for Greeley, establishes a 
man's claim to office. Pray, what is this but the same old doctrine in- 
augurated by Jackson, " to the victor belong the spoils." 

As I have shown before, Mr. Greeley, a short time before he was a 
candidate, said that both he and Gen. Grant were in favor of a " radi- 
cal change " in the "system " of giving out offices. Gen. Grant has 
adhered to his views through thick and thin, but Mr. Greeley, as soon 
as he becomes a candidate, thinking the Democrats would not support 
him unless he }iromised them office, says, to a Democratic audience, 
help me get the roof on my house, or in other words, vote for me, and 
you shall share alike in the distribution of the spoils with the Liberal 
Republicans. Mr. Democrat, will you put your hnger on the place 
wherein he wants any " radical change," except to turnout the supports 
of Grant, and put in the supporters of Greeley? Driven l)y the re- \ 
sistless logic -of truth to admit the hollowness ox this hypocritical c\v \ 
for reform, yon cry in despair that Mr. Greeley is in favor of the 
"one term principle." Yes, Mr. Greeley is in favor of putting it into / 

t;.e C'Onsiitution thiit the p(>ople shall be restrained from re-electing a , 

mail, no diffeience how good or great he may be. Greeley has never I 

liad any faith m the people. He has l)een a persistent advocate of the J 

Government beingj the guardian of the people. He thinks they need \ 

protection, that they are unable to regulate even their ap})etites, and I 

iienci' he has always been in favor of extreme temperance laws, and now i 

he thinks the people are such fools that a constitutional provision ought i 

to keep them from re-electing a knave or a fool for President. If any 
])rovibion is needed it is one to keep them from electing a meddlesome 
hypocrite to office the first time. Out of our eighteen Presidents, six, or 
precisely one-third, have bee!i re-elected. How does this speak for the 
good sense of the American people? Who were those six re-elected Pres- 
idents? The very man acknowledged by all parties to have made the 
best Presidents. They were ^^^ashington, Jefl'erson, Madison, Monroe, 
Jackson, ^and l^incoln. Who were tiie men that made the very worst 
Presidents of all, and were not only rejected by the ])feople, but by 
all parties. They were the renegades like Horace Greeley, who be- 
trayed the party to which they beiouged. They number only une more 
than Judas — they were John Tyler and Andrew Johnson. v, 

And the Democrats, who have always wanted the Constitution as it ^ 

was, who bitterly opposed any amendment of that instrument which 



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broaded human rigiits, have suddenly got willing to amend on the "mie- * 



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term principle," in order if Mr. (Jreeley should be elected, to gethin* 
out of the way and provide for a regular Democratic succes!«or. 

Then, after all, this little one-term sticking-plaster is ail that is ap- 
plied for the pretended ills of tlie country, differing from the known 
views of the Repuhliean party. Our enemies iiave even quit talking 
about the financial policy of the Administration. They say not a word 
about " revenue reform," but remand it back to the people about the 
same as the Kepubiicans have always done. 

The question of Amnesty, whether right or wrong, i- practically dis- 
posed of by Congress already, and can scarcely be said to be an issue 
in tii3 canvass. Then, is this one deceitful pretension sufficient to jus- 
tify the cjuntry in swapping oif a safe and faithful President for Mr. 
(jrreeiey and his hungry brood of coalitionists ? Do you think Mr. 
(Ireeley would own, that if he himself were elected, it would be unsafe 
to trust him w'ith a secosid term? If not, then does he claim tliat vir- 
tue and honesfy will die with him? If a President already elected 
might use the appointing power to re-nominate and re-elect him, do 
you not think that a candidate for the iirst and only term, know"ing that 
lie only had one shot at the mark, would be very careful to set the trig- 
gers beforehand ? Would he not tell the })oliticians and wire-pullers 
that if they would help him raise his house, they should not. be kickeil 
out when the roof was safely on ? The late conduct of Mr. Greeley, 
hiiVi.-elf, is an answer to all of these questions. Now, I am not going 
to say mueii about this candidate liimself. He has told us so many 
times what he iaiows al)out hini;-elf, that little more need be said liy me. 
tlaving turned his bdck upon !<i.. paet record, it was p.n'tectly .natural 
that he should become the candiv^ate of a phrty who likewise wanted Ut 
get their history behind them. *' Dante tells us that he saw in jLiie- 
bolge a strange enciomtter between a human ibrni and a serpent. The 
enemies, alter Ciuel wounds inflicted, stood i'or a tiine glarhig on each 
other. A great cloud surrounded them, and then ;i wonderful meta- 
morphosis began. Each creature vv'as trausfii>iired into the likeness of 
its antagonist. The serpents' tail divided itself into two legs; themai/s 
legs eritertwined themselves into a tall. The body of the serpent })ut 
forth arms ; the arms of the man shrank into his body. • At length the 
serpent stood up a man and spake, and the Jiian sank down a serpent 
:u)d glided hissing away." 8ach, to a certain extent, ijave been the atti- 
tudes of Mr. Greeley and the Democratic party. 

Mr. Greeley had l^een rega -ded as an honest man, and he most 
cruelly fought who.t he called the old copperhead serpejit. All at once 
they ceasc.d the conflict. The serpent, perhaps, for the .same reason 
as in the Garden of Eden, changed its form, and counterfeited tiie 
shape of its enemy, standing upoii R.iitimore and Cincinnati, while, Mr. 
Greoley sinks down upon his belly, and licks the dust from the feet of 
his antiient foe. And as a last resru't to gain oopuhvr iavor. he has 
been travehng around making speeches, attempting to strike some re- 
sponsive chord, ttusting to that frailty of the populace which sometinies 
i iduces it to cling to a notorious nam*^'. But as he turns his back sor- 
rowfully up(m Maim-, and turns to ^' Ciiapoaquaek," he murmurs: 

"Alas! thun 'a;!n\ !i uiisjjlitior liuii'l 
Tliis hni-v> i);w tutuKl. thc-e striiu';> liav.' *})aiin.>'l: 
! tor.f'h tho chords of joy. but low 

AuA niim rnt'iil .-oi-; w..>rs rn.;i'^ '>t' v,.,. ' 



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